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Wednesday, June 20, 2018

SPOILERS: Batman #49

Weddings see old friends getting together and reminiscing about the good times... and killing each other oddly enough.

With Batman down for count, Catwoman and Joker go at it fairly quickly, ending up with a slash of the throat to Joker and shot to the gut for Selina. The joke here being that the two are now forced to sit in each other's company while holding their respective wounds, lest they bleed out. So, they take the time to talk.

And it's funny... weirdly funny. It's like the DC Nation #0 story where you look at it and go "Is this funny? I think it's funny." It's oddly cordial between the two and very informal at the same time. Joker makes his case that he loves Batman too and is trying to save him... because he can't be happy and be Batman at the same time, which gives her a pensive look and oh god don't let her read X-Men Goldthis week.

Ultimately, Joker bites the bullet and goes to reload his gun, offering no hard feelings to Selina... but as predicted, he passes out from the loss of blood before he's able to kill her. Batman gets up off camera to check on Selina, telling her he wasn't sure what Joker wanted but he didn't get it, which makes Selina laugh hysterically, a sticking point for the Joker who brought up how she never laughed in the old days.

Overall, I liked this issue more than the last, as King did what he does best with this book, writer characters who are talking or reacting to Batman. That's the thing about this book, Batman is rarely at the forefront of the title, he's more the enigma that the surrounding cast is forced to react to, dissect and diagnose. So when you have two characters like Catwoman and Joker having a civil and oddly comical conversation about the Bat, all while bleeding out, there's something fascinating about it. Still not sure about what's going to happen in #50, but I'll find out soon enough and have to shut my god damn mouth either way.

The seeds of the break up are clearly there - Selina leaves Bruce because he's too happy and can't be Batman - but it'll be a shame if she decides to leave him before they give the marriage a shot. I've seen heartbroken Bruce before.